The CSU board unanimously nominated Prime Minister Markus Söder as the top candidate for the state elections in autumn. The German press agency learned this on Monday from groups of participants. “We have a tried and tested, dynamic and incredibly hard-working Prime Minister who has proven how well he can advance the country,” said Ilse Aigner, President of the Landtag and CSU Head of Upper Bavaria. Söder has “an incredible presence” and a great feeling for topics.
Söder’s nomination is basically just a mandatory act, since there are no other candidates in the party, nor is there any doubt that he, as party leader, will lead the CSU in the election, as in the 2018 election. Five years ago, the CSU with Söder suffered heavy losses in the election and lost its absolute majority in the state parliament. Since then she has governed in a coalition with the Free Voters – Söder had repeatedly emphasized that she wanted to continue the alliance in the coming legislative period.
Officially, the CSU does not want to nominate Söder until May 6th as the top candidate for the state elections – at a one-day party conference in Nuremberg. In addition, the CSU wants to decide on its new basic program there. For the fall, shortly before the election, the CSU is also planning another party conference with the election of the CSU party executive – here too, anything but re-election of Söder as party leader would be a surprise.
In surveys, the CSU is currently between 40 and 42 percent. This would be a clear improvement on the 2018 result, i.e. the CSU only achieved 37.2 percent. While Söder has so far deliberately held back with targets for the result of the election on October 8th, Aigner described a result of “40 percent plus X” as quite realistic in January.
